;24 



GILPIN ON THE HALIBUT. 



the Atlantic coast, as it sells readily when fresh, its price oftea 

 exceeding that of fresh mutton. The easier communication by 

 steam with the neighbouring States has caused a large trade in 

 fresh halibut preserved in iced boxes. At least £2000 worth 

 are sent by steamers to Boston from Halifax during the season. 

 All the American writers, with the exception of Gill, consider 

 this fish identical with the European species. Gill by giving it 

 the sjjecific Americanus must consider it different. ~As its 

 northern range is Greenland, it is most probable that commenc- 

 ing from a northern origin it has spread on both sides of the 

 Atlantic. 



With this large and curious member of the fiimily of Planide 

 I finish the Food fishes of Nova Scotia. The turning, so to 

 speak, perpendicular into horizontal motion, the thin upright 

 compressed fish into the broad flat one is efifected so easily and 

 so naturally, and with so slight a fracture of dual symmetry, that 

 one wonders it has not attracted more attention, or that it has 

 not been a fruitful theme for Darwinism. In these papers I 

 have endeavoured to give all the facts at my command upon the 

 food, the habits, the spawning time, and upon the minute exterior 

 appearance and typical marks of the five families of Clupiclse, 

 Gadidse, Salmonidoe, Scomboidse and Planide, which represent 

 -our food fish. I have at least made a beginning, though an 

 imperfect one, being convinced that this is the only and proper 

 way to approach the subject of onv fisheries, — to determine 

 whether they have declined or no, and the cause of that declen- 

 sion provided it is proved to exist. The question of food for at 

 least the surface feeders, — how far its supply is modified by the 

 winds and currents setting along the fishing grounds, — how far 

 by the power of man, — must also be thoroughly studied. Many 

 of these influences are doubtless beyond our controul ; but the 

 very knowledge of what is beyond our controul adds much to 

 our capacity for holding and using what is within it. Many 

 supposed facts, now reasoned upon as facts, must be entirely 

 dropped, as for instance the Americans feeding the mackerel, 

 and thus drawing them away from our shores. It would take 

 the capacity of the Great Eastern and the national purse, to 

 feed for one season the millions that swarm our seas. Another 



